大咖福利影院

Priscilla wrote:

What are some potential factors that lead to loneliness when moving to Colombia?

1.聽 Language barrier for those who do not have conversational Spanish.

2.聽 Perceived cultural barriers in smaller towns and cities where Gringos are few.

3.聽 Lack of Expat meetups except for the largest cities.聽 Even Cali Expats seem to have stumbled in attempts to have a group.

cccmedia in Depto. de Nari帽o

Priscilla wrote:

Is it easy to expand or create a social network in Colombia?

That depends.聽 Depends on how gregarious you are, how motivated in this you are, how conversationally fluent you are, whether you have a spouse, relative or friends whose networks you can tap into.

cccmedia in Depto. de Nari帽o

Priscilla wrote:

Are there any activities or events that encourage social meet ups and networking opportunities?

In some Colombian cities there are Expat-friendly groups and / or meetups.

In Medell铆n, there are so-called outside groups such as Medellin G--- and Medellin L----- that meet once a month for an evening event .. and may offer interest subgroups that meet separately.

In Bogot谩 and Medell铆n, Inter------ holds regular meetings.

There have been meetups at Gringo Tuesdays in Bucaramanga, according to a former Buca Expat.

There have been reports of a Facebook group that meets regularly in the largest city of the Coffee Zone.

There have been sporadic attempts at getting folks together in Cali.

The coastal cities, to my knowledge, do not have Expat-ready meetups.聽 Talking about such well-known places as Cartagena, Santa Marta and Barranquilla.聽

In Caquet谩, C煤cuta, Ipiales, Neiva, Pasto and Popay谩n, it's doubtful you'd find any groups or meetups where English is spoken much if at all.

聽 -- cccmedia, possibly the only Gringo staying this week in Ipiales, Nari帽o

Earle wrote:

Since I'm in Cali how can we build one up?聽 I would really like to meet folk here from foreign countries, too!

Dear Earle,

There have been many Cali threads on the forum in the last couple of years .. many of which contain posts seeking a meetup.

To locate these threads, go to the Colombia forum welcome page .. and enter Cali in the search box.聽 Then click .. and then scroll down the list of Cali/meetup threads.

Note that CaliRay has recently been seeking to create a meetup in Cali.聽 I suggest you sent him a PM message accessing his PM inbox via the icon at one of his posts.

cccmedia in Depto. de Nari帽o

Earle wrote:

Why have (Cali meetups) not come about so much here ?

IMO, somebody needs to take the initiative to do more than say I'd like to attend a meetup.

This could mean....

1.聽 Choosing a central place with specific time and date, for instance at a restaurant starting on a weekday at 7 p.m.

2.聽 Arrange with the restaurant for a section where the group can meet on that date.

3.聽 Actively promote the event on this site (and possibly elsewhere).聽 There may be a special section of expat.com to promote the event -- contact the Home Office to find out where that section is.聽 Post in the Colombia forums of expat.com ...

4.聽 Send PM's to active members in Cali, inviting/reminding them of the event.

5.聽 Work or meet with CaliRay and others who have shown recent interest, to aumentar the vibe for the upcoming event.

6.聽 Hold the event, and afterwards, post photos and comments on this site.

7.聽 Plan another event and promote it.聽 "Rinse and repeat."

聽 聽cccmedia

Hello marta57,

Since you are participating in an English-speaking forum, you are recommended to write in English only.

Should you want to communicate in Spanish, you can do it here > Foro Colombia

Thank you,

Cheryl

大咖福利影院 team